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particularly large close up in his sweat suit, pants pulled up to his chest, and I wondered about
his build and physique since I've cared for four active NBA players with heart and aorta
problems. Once he took off his sweat pants, he just looked like a normal proportioned, but
huge player. Nevertheless, there does appear to be a relationship between tall professional
players and risk of aortic root aneurysms. We ate hot dogs and watched a great game. After the
game I emailed the Chairman of the Board that in addition to the three essential criteria for a
CEO, and the four additional E's in Jack Welch's article, the other potential attributes of the
candidate included: Endurance, evaluates, educates, élan, empathy, inquires, and celebrates
achievements. I was fortunate to later meet Jack Welch and obtain a signed copy of his topic
“Winning,” which is one of the most information rich business topics I have had the pleasure to
read.
How a leader later behaves after selection ranges from that of Machiavelli's principals to
servant - leaders, based on Jesus style, such as advocated in True North by Bill George.
While Machiavelli was writing to a Medici Prince he laid out his suggestions of basically
being harsh and devious. The problem with this approach is that a leader builds up adversity
and mistrust that will later potentially haunt him. Sadly, Africa's thorny political history is rife
with nepotism, self-enriching corruption, and hording of country's riches. As documented in
the case of the Medici in
Dante's Inferno
, and later in the Pulitzer Prize winning topic
Machiavelli in Hell
by Sebastian De Grazia, the end of the reign of a Machiavellian leader is
rarely a happy one for anybody. As Machiavelli pointed out leaders tend to gain power, in
decreasing likelihood of success, by birth, ability, good fortune, and lastly by nepotism.
Clearly a leader's internal narrative about himself influences his behavior and this influences
in turn an institution or businesses success. A senior GE management friend has pointed out
that a senior leader at GE can typically only chaperone one or two major initiatives, set the
culture for a large organization, and choose those he surrounds himself with. In
Built to Last
,
James Collins and Jerry Podras essentially come to the conclusion that in companies with long
term success the leaders are driven visionaries and able to keep a relatively humble approach
to their leadership style. The same has been said of the WWII generation attributes: humble,
honest, hardworking, sense of humor, and honorable - Five Hs. One cannot, however, discount
luck, random events, or riding a new wave of innovation (like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael
DeBakey or Chris Barnard; they were the first in many areas of subsequent developments and
they were also venerated as prophetic visionary leaders). Even Einstein was inspired by
firstly the 1887 Michelson - Morley experiment at Case School and Western Reserve
University (now Case Western) on the relativity of time dilatation and constancy speed of light
(and debunking the concept of light travelling through “ether”). Secondly also his exposure to
patents applications at his work office on electromagnetics inspired him to then search for the
explanations, with probably the assistance of his wife Mileva Maric, resulting first in the 1905
publication of the theory of special relativity and later general relativity. There is a difference
between riding a new wave that inevitably will come to be - somebody had to do the first
heart transplant - or being a pure genius who created something that the world would never
have had but for the genius, for example the great music by Beethoven or Mozart or great
paintings by van Gogh. Without those artists, often at the beginning of a new trend, their work
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